Every wall of this castle was emitting cold which shuddered the figure laying on the bare floor.
She would fold and hug her legs to warm her body.
Her dress was simple single rob which was not efficient to provide her warmth and protection from the cold.
She did not send someone to inform her father before her imprisonment.
She shuddered once again.
From the small gap of the big iron door, her food slide in, she ran to hear the small movement, she grasped the hand which was sliding in, "Who sent you to deliver food_?" she asked roughly.
"Miss Henan_ Queen was worried for your circumstances_ and she sent me with food_!!" the maid tried to free her hand horribly.
Henan was sure about it that only Queen could be considerate of her in this kind of condition.
"Do I look horrible_ don't struggle to free your hand_ you will hurt it with iron sheet_!!" Henan saw her struggle and tried to calm her.
"Mm_ anything else Miss Henan wanted to know_?" the maid asked hurriedly to leave this cursed cold castle.
"Do anyone know when would be my execution_??" Henan asked such that the maid got more agitated, who on earth would ask with calm such a painful thing?
"I am only a maid_ I don't know exactly but... but there are rumors that its the next week...!!" the maid blurted the rumor.
Henan nodded her head and let go of her hand.
The maid is run like that she was afraid that the ghost which was imprisoned in the cold castle would follow her despite the fact that the iron door was locked huge and heavy chains.
Henan sat on the bare floor, thinking her father might not get this news of her imprisonment. The rumors would not travel to him because he was not near and that her imprisonment was kept a secret too and the reason for her early execution was more simple than anything else.
King Shang would not let common people know that the daughter of their favorite General was going to be executed because of a crime which she did to save her life and in that case, it was no more crime but to coat it with the breaking of purest conventions was really inescapable for her.
Women were not allowed to learn and practice weapons and to wield them was a bigger crime, she would definitely be scorned by other women too. Women were obeying the purest conventions for centuries, they might not support such girl who was here to tarnish their reputation and peace.
Henan learned all this not because of her own interest but because she wanted to find her lost father until now she was only dragging herself to accept the fact she really learned martial things and the one who taught her was no other than the Prince himself! Did not he know the fact that he was doing against the purest conventions?
Was he meant to protect her from this crime after she had found her father?
With this she remembered that it was six months that she did not see Wan Hu Shang, she knew he was on border front and the news of his upcoming victory was rumored in the Kingdom! This was also the biggest reason for King Shang to release a decree for Henan Zhong! He thought it was the best time to get rid of the trashy girl before his son came back victorious!!
At this moment, she really wanted to hug Wan Hu and tell her that she was innocent.
Only he could believe every word of her after her father...he was always by her side whenever she felt she was alone in this big world...he would console her...he would not let her suffer even for the smallest time, just like her father.
She looked at the sky-high ceiling of the castle... "When you will be here...I would have been long gone...but I wish that you would live happily, you would defeat every enemy no matter how much powerful...you will become the symbol of power...and then you will eradicate all those cruel conventions which you promised when we were small years ago...!!"
She felt she was talking to Wan Hu Shang which helped her to console herself.
She wiped the tears off her face, because whenever she was grieved she had the shoulders of her father and after him Wan 'er to cry on but now both were not present to wipe her tears.
The night was close on which was another torture for her, the night was especially cold in this castle though it was not winter yet.
She sat against the wall and remembered the time she spent with Wan Hu.
It brought her warmth and she fell asleep despite the torturous night.
In the middle of the night, she woke up shivering and slightly screaming in her dream which worsens the torture.
"Wan'er...Wan'er...!!" she was sobbing with the content of nightmare in her head.
She saw he fell in the battle because someone stabbed him from behind.
She consoled herself for a long time that it was just a nightmare, he was definitely safe.
Time passed unusually slower than the actual pace.
Henan was counting on the time to just pass by.
All the iron doors and windows started vibrating with the beating with sticks, few guards were ordered to look after the girl very well and every day they come up ridiculous things to torture her.
They knew she was awake in the night but still, they would do this to force her head to explode with severe conditions.
She covered her ears to bear the deafening voices of iron vibrations.
The King was crackbrain or his guards were acting crazy, there was definitely some relationship between both.
The idea to revenge the King for his doings never crossed her mind, she only cared to bring her father back which she did too but the King was definitely doing all this purposefully.